“Don’t worry. Once you get him started and give him a job to do, he’ll settle down,” Jessica said. But Jessica didn’t feel quite as confident as her words. She fidgeted as she leaned on her crutches.
“I swear, Jess. I’ve never seen anyone pace on crutches, but you’re doing a good job of it,” Skyler said with a warning look. “Hold still. Rampage is picking up on your nerves.”
Jessica stilled her body for a moment, then limped off toward the others waiting at the truck.
“You need to cut her some slack, Sky,” Sarah said. “I know it would be hard for me to train all year, and then watch someone else ride my horse in the trials.”
“It’s not just that, I don’t think,” Skyler replied. “There’s something else bothering her. She’ll chew on it for a while before she spits it out and tells me her real problem. She’s sort of like this boy.” She patted the bay’s shoulder. “You have to coax her, not force her.”
Skyler checked Sarah’s saddle and stirrups, murmuring to sooth the tense horse. She squeezed Sarah’s knee. “Ride well and be safe. Trust Rampage. He’s a hell of a horse.”
Skyler joined the others at the SUV and stood behind Jessica, arms wrapped around her. “What’s on your mind, babe?” she coaxed. “That was supposed to be you down there on Rampage. Is it harder than you thought, watching Sarah take your ride?”
Jessica looked worriedly at the clouds threatening overhead. She squeezed her lover’s embrace even tighter. “It’s just the clouds and wind. I’ve just got a bad feeling. It’s like déjà vu or something.”
Skyler’s mind raced back to Jessica’s accident on Racer. “Don’t even think it. That was a freak accident. This is a different day, a different situation.” She could feel Jessica tremble in her arms. “Hey, trust me and Rampage, okay?”
Jessica leaned her body into Skyler’s. She did feel warm and secure in her tall lover’s arms. She wanted to trust that everything would be fine.
They moved to join Kate, Laura, and Jamie, who were seated in lawn chairs and intently following Sarah and Rampage as they began their first phase. The stallion was a coiled spring, straining to be let loose. His brisk trot ate up the ground before him and the pair turned in a time more than a minute shorter than the nearest competitor.
Skyler frowned. “She needs to hold him in. She’s coming out too fast and won’t have anything left for the cross-country.”
“They’re okay,” Jessica disagreed softly. “He’s got more stamina than any horse I’ve ridden. If she holds him in too much, he’ll sulk and fight her. They’ll lose their rhythm.”
Entering the steeplechase phase, Sarah gave in a little more to the eager bay. The hilltop group could hear the crowd seated in the stands below murmur in admiration as the horse and rider sailed over the course. The judges were checking their watches and shaking their heads.
As they began the third phase, a slow trot and walking to cool down, Jessica and Skyler hopped in the SUV so they could meet Sarah at the veterinary check. Sarah was breathing hard from the adrenaline rush when she hopped down from the saddle.
“You’re taking him too fast,” Skyler scolded. “I don’t know if he’ll have enough left for the cross-country.”
“Are you kidding? I’m having a hell of a time holding him in. He acts like he hasn’t even taken his edge off yet.”
Jessica moved closer. “Then he’s going to be tough over the cross-country. He loves to jump and tends to get more and more excited as you go farther along the course. You have to use the little distractions I showed you to keep his attention on you and not just the next series of jumps.”
Sarah nodded and sipped from the sports drink Jessica handed her. Skyler led Rampage through the vet check, walking him the full ten minutes to calm him yet keep his momentum.
“Don’t look so worried,” Sarah said when she was back in the saddle. “It’s in the bag.”
Skyler shook her head at Sarah’s bravado and stepped back as she turned Rampage toward the cross-country.
When Jessica and Skyler returned to the hilltop, the clouds had grown heavier. The coming storm still was too far away to hear the thunder, but sheets of lightning were visible in the distance. Jessica peered up at the darkening sky and clung to Skyler’s hand with a death grip.
Skyler muttered under her breath as she watched Sarah wind Rampage through the course. “Too fast, Sarah. You’re losing control over him. Slow him down.”
Jessica pulled a stopwatch from her pocket and returned her binoculars to her eyes. She clicked the watch as Sarah left the chevrons and headed toward a double ski jump. Rampage rushed the first jump, and Sarah struggled to slow him for the more dramatic drop on the second jump. Rampage shook his head at her pressure, but sailed over the second jump while maintaining perfect balance.
“He’s giving her a really hard time,” Jessica said, “but she’s hanging in there with him.”
The wind picked up, swaying the trees as Jessica tracked her binoculars ahead of the horse and rider. Christ, the water jump. Rampage continued to shake his head as Sarah worked to slow him down. Rain began to pelt down and thunder rumbled as they approached the jump. Oh, God. It was happening again.
“No!” Jessica screamed as Rampage slipped when he launched his body over the jump. Flipping sideways, he landed heavily on his side in the water. Sarah was pitched clear of the horse. They all stood frozen, heedless of the rain pelting them.
“This can’t be happening again,” Jessica moaned before turning and limping as fast as her crutches could carry her toward the truck.
Skyler caught her and held her tight in her arms. “Jess, baby, hold on a minute,” she pleaded.
They all held their breath as Sarah rolled, then sprang to her feet. Rampage also struggled up and shook the water from his coat like a big dog before looking for his rider.
“They’re both up and okay,” Kate called out.
Sarah quickly led him to a spot where she was standing uphill from the horse and launched herself back into the saddle. A quick pat on the stallion’s neck and the two were off again. Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. Skyler watched the big bay’s progress closely for lameness. The downpour was brief and already had subsided to a sprinkle.
Jessica sniffled, her face still buried in Skyler’s shoulder.
“Jess, baby, look. They’re okay. Sarah is finishing the course.” Skyler rubbed her lover’s back with one hand while she held her binoculars with the other.
“I can’t look,” Jessica mumbled. “You watch for me.”
Skyler placed a soft kiss on her forehead and gave her a running report of Rampage’s progress. “They’re over the solid wall, taking the hedges with room to spare. Sarah really is pushing it to make up their lost time. God, Jess, Rampage is flying. That’s it. They’re home free.”
Jessica sniffed, clinging to her. “I’m sorry. I just keep hearing Racer scream and seeing that bone sticking out of his leg. I can’t even describe how bad my own leg hurt. It’s probably a good thing that I can’t jump horses anymore. I think that accident will haunt me forever.”
Skyler brushed Jessica’s dark locks back from her face. “And I will always be here to help chase that bad memory away. We’ll replace it with lots of good memories,” Skyler promised. “Come on. Let’s go see Rampage and Sarah.”
*
Sarah’s face glowed as she recounted the incredible recovery at the water jump. “Damn that rain,” she griped. “We would have been in first place if we hadn’t slipped on those wet rocks.”
They all turned as Matt trotted into the barn. “Well, all the scores are in. That fall really cost you, Sarah, but you are still only a tenth of a point behind third place.”
“Nature of the game, my dear,” Kate drawled. “The good news is that you are in fine striking distance. A clean performance in the show jumping and you should be back among the top three leaders.”
“Let’s celebrate,” Matt crowed. The top three were assured pl
aces on the Olympic team.
The women all smiled at his enthusiasm.
“Not so fast,” Skyler said. “Tomorrow is the biggest test. We have to make sure Rampage doesn’t stock up after today’s workout and be too stiff to jump well tomorrow.”
“That’s why they show jump on the last day, hon,” Sarah explained to her enthusiastic husband. “The cross-country actually has more difficult jumps, but the test is to see if your horse is in good enough shape to complete the cross-country and still be limber enough to do precision jumping the next day.”
“I’m going to be earning my pay tonight,” Skyler said. “We need to walk him and rub his legs down every four hours to keep him from getting stiff.”
Kate grinned. “We’ve got several hours before he needs another rubdown. Let’s all go somewhere to eat. Then, we’ll split the shifts.” She reeled off the assignments, leaving her own name off the list. She needed her sleep.
“What about you, horse co-owner?” Laura teased.
Kate straightened up to her full height. “Because I’m the senior member, meaning I’m too old to be rubbing down horses,” Kate whispered in Laura’s ear. “And it’s not a horse I want to be rubbing my hands on tonight.”
Kate’s comment had been too softly spoken for the others to hear, but Jessica didn’t miss her mother’s blush. “I’m not sure I like this, Kate. You’re planning to snuggle in with my mother while you send my bed warmer into the cold night to rub a horse down?”
“Don’t forget, dear, I pay her salary.” Kate winked at Skyler. “After all these years, I’ve finally found a good use for the Parker millions.”
*
“Sky, a little help here?” Jessica requested as she heard Skyler spit out her toothpaste and rinse her mouth in the next room. “My knee is too sore to bend enough to get my pants the rest of the way off.”
Skyler strode into the room, wiping her mouth on a thick white hand towel. The sight before her made her legs feel weak. She eyed the dark-haired beauty lying on the bed with her chest bare and her jeans pulled halfway down her hips. The half-lidded, blue eyes twinkled at her under long dark eyelashes.
Oh, yeah. This was an ambush, all right.
Mustering her sexiest smile, she leaned down to kiss her lover’s full lips. “I guess if I get to undress you each night, there are some definite advantages to this whole knee surgery thing.” Skyler burned a hot trail of kisses down Jessica’s taut stomach, down her thighs, and down her calves as she tugged her lover’s jeans the rest of the way off. She stopped to kiss the bandaged knee on her journey back up, then nuzzled Jessica’s soft breasts.
“Oh, sweetie. I missed your touch so much these past few nights,” Jessica moaned.
Skyler lifted her head from the nipple she was teasing. “I didn’t think you were up for making love, with everything that has happened. It seems very selfish for me to ask, but I just can’t keep my hands off of you any longer.”
“You know, my knee may be hurt, but the other parts of me are working fine.” Jessica smiled as she discarded the T-shirt Skyler had planned to sleep in. The underwear came off next.
Jessica rolled onto her side, laying her injured leg straight and bending her other leg to balance herself. She pulled Skyler down to the bed and pressed her over onto her back. “Please let me,” she urged softly as Skyler moved to regain her dominant position.
Her lover had lost a lot in the past week, Skyler realized, control of her career, control of her horse. And there was nothing she would deny those beautiful eyes now darkened with lust and longing. So, in answer to her love’s request, Skyler settled back and took the smaller hand in her long fingers, leading it to the moist blond curls between her legs. Jessica leaned over to kiss, lick, then suck at Skyler’s neck and the breasts that arched up to receive her mouth. She dipped her fingers into the dripping, hot folds and slowly stoked the fire of Skyler’s sex.
“I want to feel you inside me,” Skyler moaned.
Jessica plunged two fingers into the hot canal, but withdrew as she sensed Skyler’s climax building.
“Please, Jess,” Skyler begged for release.
“Not yet, babe,” Jessica purred. “Flip over for me.” She ran her hands, then her lips over Skyler’s graceful neck and smoothly muscled back. She rested her cheek on Skyler’s warm, taut buttock before teasing the sensitive flesh with a series of nips and kisses. She reached between her lover’s legs again and entered her again with her thumb, while her fingers stroked the hard clit as she thrust with a steady stroke. Skyler moaned and the sound increased Jessica’s own ache to a throb.
“Oh, baby, don’t stop!” Skyler gasped out.
“Let me slide under you,” Jessica demanded, pushing Skyler onto her knees.
It only took a split second for Skyler to see the advantage of this new position. She straddled Jessica’s head, and then buried her face in the raven curls to draw Jessica’s stiff clitoris into her warm mouth.
They stroked and sucked and cried out together as their pleasure peaked and hard orgasms washed over them. A light sheen of sweat covered their bodies as they clung to each other and kissed away the sweet nectar of each other’s climax. Skyler lay lightly upon Jessica, resting most of her weight still on her knees and elbows. Jessica stroked the back of Skyler’s muscled thighs. She loved the musky smell of her lover and the ownership she felt over this incredibly sexy woman.
Skyler gathered Jessica’s entire body in her arms to rest her on the disarray of pillows. “I love you, Jess,” she whispered reverently. Pulling the blanket up over them, she settled back with Jessica’s dark head resting in the well of her shoulder.
Jessica stretched a protective arm across Skyler’s waist and drew her good leg up across Skyler’s. The heat of her lover’s body warmed her through to the core of her very soul. “I love you, Sky. So much,” she murmured.
Chapter Eighteen
Saturday’s clouds had long since blown out to the North Carolina coast, leaving a crisp blue sky overhead. Jessica watched nervously as Skyler tacked Rampage up for the final competition. “Shorten that strap on the martingale,” she instructed. “Maybe the saddle should slide up another inch.”
Skyler stopped and turned slowly to her backseat driver. “Jess, how many years have I been saddling horses?”
“I know. It’s a little harder than I thought it would be to watch someone else ride him, especially in the show jumping. I don’t know why the show jumping is different, maybe because it’s my favorite.” Tears filled Jessica’s eyes. “I wanted so badly to be taking him in that ring myself.”
Skyler pulled her into a protective embrace. “I know, baby. But this is a very selfless thing you’re doing. You’ve made me and everybody else in our little family very proud.”
Jamie came running, breathless, into the barn. “Rampage is next on deck!”
Skyler unhooked Rampage from the crossties and led the stallion forward.
Sarah straightened her red riding jacket and brushed the barn dust from her polished boots. “Leg up?” she requested when she was ready.
Matt stepped forward quickly. “I’ll do it. I’m learning a few things around this place.” He lifted his wife into the saddle. “Break a leg?”
Skyler snorted, and then whispered something in his ear. He grinned.
“Ride well and be safe,” he offered to his smiling wife.
Sarah steered Rampage to the warm-up area to loosen his muscles.
Waiting for them at the entrance to the arena, Kate gave her a quick lay-of-the-land. “This is a tough course, Sarah. The leader pulled two faults, slow time and one rail down. His horse wasn’t in a very good mood and fought him a lot. The woman second in the standings is the only one so far to make a clean run, and the woman holding third dropped a rail on the vertical jump. Run it clean and you’ve got a spot on the team.”
Sarah adjusted the chinstrap on her helmet. Her smile was gone, replaced by an expression of intense focus. Like a bronco rider getting r
eady to signal for an open gate, Kate thought.
Rampage snorted and shifted his feet as they waited.
“Okay, love,” Sarah crooned to the ears that flicked back and forth at the sound of her voice. “This is it. This is what you and Jess have been working for. You’re the best, and we’re going to show them that.”
When Skyler and Kate joined the others in the Parker box at the indoor arena, Jessica pulled Skyler down into the chair and clung to her arm. Skyler winked at Jamie, who was sitting next to Tory, almost bouncing at the excitement of the moment. Laura sat between Kate and Matt, clutching each of their hands as they watched the officials replace a rail knocked down by the last rider.
Sarah was up next.
Getting the go-ahead from the judges, she turned Rampage in a large circle before trotting him into the ring and activating the electric eye of the timer. He cantered with the relaxed ease of a Sunday stroll. The crowd held its collective breath as he sailed over the first jump, neatly tucking his feet and landing softly on the other side.
This course had seventeen jumps. Just sixteen more to go. They sailed over the oxers. The triple bar was barely a ripple in their pace. And they cleared the wall jump without even a slight hesitation.
“Look at their time,” Jessica breathed. “They’re on a perfect pace.”
The crowd tensed again as the pair approached the combination, but Rampage made the shift to shorten his stride between the closely placed fences with little effort. The television cameras followed their progress as the announcer quickly shuffled through his papers to find the background commentary on this emerging star.
Sarah urged the big bay to quicken his pace as he approached the vertical jump. Standing five feet and six inches high, it was one of the most difficult for a horse to jump. Rampage’s muscles bulged as he gathered to launch himself over the top rail. He neatly tucked his feet and cleared it with at least three inches to spare. A hushed murmur rippled across the crowd, all well schooled in the need to remain quiet until the competitor finished the course.
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